Turning Gigabytes into Gigs: “Songification” and Live Music Data

Abstract | Abstract

Complex data is challenging to understand when it is represented as written communication even when it is structured in a table. However, choosing to represent data in creative ways can aid our understanding of complex ideas and patterns. In this regard, the creative industries have a great deal to offer data-intensive scholarly disciplines. Music, for example, is not often used to interpret data, yet the rhythmic nature of music lends itself to the representation and analysis of temporal data.
Taking the music industry as a case study, this paper explores how data about historical live music gigs can be analysed, extended and re-presented to create new insights. Using a unique process called ‘songification’ we demonstrate how enhanced auditory data design can provide a medium for aural intuition. The case study also illustrates the benefits of an expanded and inclusive view of research; in which computation and communication, method and media, in combination enable us to explore the larger question of how we can employ technologies to produce, represent, analyse, deliver and exchange knowledge.